Waakye Rice, Ghana 🇬🇭 | Beans S1, EP4

Welcome to Beans From around the world, this is part 4 and today were taking a trip to Ghana to make some Waakye Rice

Welcome back to Beans from around the world. This is part 4 and today were taking a trip to Ghana, to make some Waakye🇬🇭

Waakye is a traditional rice and beans dish from Ghana which involves simmering black eye peas in a broth containing Waakye (Sorghum) leaves until cooked and you observe a beautiful rich red/dark purple colour.

This is normally served with Waakye stew, fried plantains and much more but for this recipe, I wanted to just focus on the rice itself.

Ingredients (4)

200g black eye peas soaked overnight

1 litre boiling water

8 Sorghum leaves

1 tbsp all purpose seasoning

1 knorr chicken stock cube

Black pepper & salt to taste

1 cup washed extra long basmati rice

Method

Step (1)

Place a large stew pot on o medium high heat, then add the washed and soaked peas and sorghum leaves. Once boiling, reduce the heat and let simmer for 45 minutes or until the peas are cooked.

Step (2)

Remove the lid and discard the Sorghum leaves. Add the seasonings alongside salt and pepper to taste, then once it has reached your desired flavour, add the washed basmati rice, ensuring that you have no more than an inch of water from the rice level and the top of the broth, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Step (3)

After 20 minutes, remove from the heat and let steam for a further 15 minutes. Then fluff up the rice and cover for a further 10 minutes.